5/10/2002 Socialism and Capitalism in
United States.This final paper is on experiences with socialism and capitalism in
United States and will draw on many of
other aspects of business history we learned this term. Now as we all know
United States is considered a capitalistic country. So one would question how could a capitalistic country have socialism within its own borders?
During week one our objective study was to understand several key problem areas of
world. One of
main issues of learning during that week addressed was
difference between capitalism and socialism. For this I used a different approach than what was normally expected. Instead of going with
classical approach of using other countries like Russia to show socialism; I used something closer to home, Native American Tribes residing in
United States.
I found an article in
Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indian’s newspaper on its election process and used it to write my own paper showing how even within
borders of
United States you could find socialism being actively practiced by Native American Tribes.
I completely showed how a Native American Tribe could use sovereign immunity to protect its socialistic ways, which goes against
United States Constitution even though it is housed in
same physical boundaries of this country, which uses a capitalistic approach to its government. To begin
next part is a summary of
article on elections from
Sault Tribe newspaper.
Source: Sault Tribe News March 2002 edition Title: Election committee ensures fair process
The main title of
article was Election committee ensures fair process. The article starts out explaining that over 17,000 notices of
election were recently sent out, which explains
election process to members. The election committee consisting of 13 members oversees
entire election process. Currently there is one seat open for appointment. They meet a few times during
non-election years and as
elections draw near
amount of meetings increase. They serve 4 years terms and try to ensure a fair election process. “They come in all shapes, sizes and ages on
committee.” Said Chairperson Lori Jump.
The committee is always looking for volunteers to help them with all of their work, such as mailing and counting ballots. Last election ballot returns were up 64%. The committee hopes to increase this to even greater numbers in
future. The committee is also responsible for checking personal financial information and doing criminal checks on all candidates. After each election
committee gets together to brainstorm to see what went right or wrong and how it can be fixed or made better. One current idea
committee is looking into to present to
Main Board is electronic balloting, which will speed up
counting process considerably.
The final section of
article again ask for volunteers and gives a little more description on
work
committee does. They register voters, prepare a list of eligible voters, prepare and send out ballots, prepare and post a list of eligible candidates, account for all returning ballots and count them and in
event of a tie
committee decides
election by drawing lots.
First of all this paper travels all over
United States. I feel
article itself was written poorly and even
comment of
chairperson is odd. Now what
article does not tell you is that it is
current Board of Directors who appoints these people to their terms not
members of
Tribe. If they fail to follow
Boards directives they find themselves replaced with people who will comply with
Chairman of
Board of Directors. You can see how this looks very socialistic.
I really liked
title of
article Election committee ensures fair process. Yet in
entire article it did not mention what they do to make things fair. Why? Could it be
Government at hand does not want a fair election, but wishes you to think that it actually does have one? Also during election time
incumbents try to tell you how much they have helped
Tribe and how great things are. While they each have large incomes and
majority of
tribal members live below
national poverty level.
The Board of Directors and
Chairman also control what is printed in that newspaper. There is no such thing as freedom of
press and if you try to raise a fight against these ideas you could be labeled as a dissident or if you try to take them to a real court to fight for your rights as a United States citizen or if any group or part of
U.S. Government tries to go against them or charge them with crimes they claim Tribal Sovereignty.
What many of
Native Tribes in
United States claim is Tribal Sovereignty or sovereign immunity. This is basically their claim to govern themselves with out outside interference from
United States Government. It is also
claim used to justify that they are in fact their own nation residing in
borders of
United States, almost similar to another country having an embassy here. This is
simplest way to briefly explain sovereign immunity.
Now we shall get a little more background on Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians and their elections since this is an election year for its board. The board consists of twelve elected officials whom are believed to represent
rest of
members of
Sault Tribe. The Sault owns several businesses though out Michigan. Its main businesses are its seven casinos, one of which was just opened in Detroit.
The Tribe provides several services to
membership. However membership services are limited to a seven county area in
Upper Peninsula, if you live outside of these areas you receive no services. This service area takes care of about 10,000 members out of a total Tribal membership of 30,000.
Now even though
board is suppose to be making
decisions of what happens within
Tribe and all of
laws and resolutions, it does not quit happen this way, because we have a group that we like to refer to as
golden trio. The golden trio actually influences all of
decisions by their blatant conflicts of interest, which will be plain to see in a moment.
The top two positions on
board are
chairman and vice-chairman. We will start with
chairman. The chairman is also
Chief Executive Officer of
new Greektown Casino in Detroit, which is a million dollar a day business. As CEO he reports to
Tribal Board of Directors, which he is
chairman of.